Rode the NorthStar in at 430 am into Minnie from Saint Cloud. Nothing open at the ungodly red eye hour for a solid cup of joe. In the reverse theres not much in the way of commuter bars near Target Field and the stations have yet to have retail next to them yet in the way of bars and restarants like MBTA Purple Lines and Long Island RR. MARC has a bar/commuter car still in there yard so I think we could break even here for a hour or so commute.
Not only that but I can think of a couple of Commuter Routes that are 2 1/2 hours long enough to be considered almost long distance
Liability and licensing issues have generally a cause of the withdrawal of bar service from suburban trains. There is also the issue of what do you do with the cars during morning rush and midday service.
There is still a extra fare club car on the Metra Kenosha Train BTW. Seen it parked in the yard at Kenosha
Use the car to serve coffee, tea, danish, and bagels in the morning. Maybe cream cheese and bagels, May lox (smoked salmon) cheese and bagels. Mouth beginning to water already.
Yummy, bloody May’s inbound, cocktails out bound.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…
Without a bar car who’s going to wave back at the kids along the right-of-way waving at the train? No bar car, no happy half-lit commuters!
David’s got my mouth watering too. Some days I’d KILL for a New York style bagel, complete with Temp-Tee cream cheese.
Where I’m at now they come pretty close, but not quite.
I rode either 553 or 555 once as a guest of a member back in 1978. Frankly, it was something of a disappointment: very spartan interior with no sense of the “gilded age.”
Last run of Metro North Bar Car-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUbAaT-C-Ec
Rode this when I was in the Service in the 1990s-